Weekly Address: Middle-Class Economics 每周电视讲话：中产阶级经济

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week’s address, the President shared his plan, outlined in his State of the Union address earlier this week, to give hardworking families the support they need to make ends meet by focusing on policies that benefit the middle class and those working to reach the middle class. Through common sense proposals like closing loopholes that benefit the wealthy and providing tax relief to the middle class, making two years of community college free for responsible students, strengthening paid leave policies and access to quality child care for working families, and raising the minimum wage, we can ensure that everyone benefits from, and contributes to, America’s success. Middle-class economics is working, and we have laid a new foundation, but there is still progress to be made, and the President said he is eager to get to work. 华盛顿：在本周的讲话中，奥巴马总统分享了他的在国情咨文中描绘的施政计划，那就是要给辛勤付出的众多家庭提供更多帮助，让他们实现收支平衡。重点是采取措施惠及中产阶级以及努力跻身中产阶级的人群。通过正常的措施，例如堵住对富裕阶层有利的税收漏洞，为中产阶级提供减税优惠，实现2年社区大学免费，让好学上进的学生完成大学学业，巩固带薪休假政策，为工薪家庭提供高质量的儿童保育服务，提高最低工资标准，让所有人在从美国的发展中受益的同时为国家发展做出贡献。中产阶级经济已初见成效，我们需要为未来打下新的基础，但依然还有很多事情需要完成，总统称他期待这投入这一使命之中。

Hi, everybody. This week, in my State of the Union Address, I talked about what we can do to make sure middle-class economics helps more Americans get ahead in the new economy. 大家好！本周，在我的国情咨文演讲中，我谈论了为保证中产阶级经济发展方式帮助更多美国人民在新经济环境下取得进步，我们所应该做的事情。

See, after some tough years, and thanks to some tough decisions we made, our economy is creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our deficits are shrinking. Our energy production is booming. Our troops are coming home. Thanks to the hard work and resilience of Americans like you, we’ve risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth. 众所周知，在经历多年的困难之后，经过我们做出的众多艰难抉择，我国的就业增长速度达到自1999年以来的最快水平。财政赤字在减少。能源产业欣欣向荣。部队士兵陆续回家。谢谢所有与大家一样辛勤工作、坚强不屈的美国人民，正因为有你们，我们才能从经济衰退中复苏，比世界上其它国家更自由地描绘我们的未来。

Now we have to choose what we want that future to look like. Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and rising chances for everyone who makes the effort? 现在，我们需要选择我们需要什么样的未来。我们是接受只有极少数人极为成功的经济体呢？还是致力于建设一个为每个辛勤付出的人提供工资不断增长、就业机会不断增多的经济体呢？

I believe the choice is clear. Today, thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. Let’s keep that going – let’s do more to restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American. 我相信选择是明确的。今天，由于经济的不断增长，复苏的春风吹进了越来越多人生活中。工资终于开始上涨。我们要继续努力，保持干劲，为所有人重建辛勤劳动和不断增加的机遇之间的纽带。

That’s what middle-class economics is – the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. 中产阶级经济模式就是这样的。这一理念就是当所有人得到公平的机会，所有人公平付出，所有人遵从同样的规则的时候，国家也就发展的最好。

Middle-class economics means helping workers feel more secure in a world of constant change – making it easier to afford childcare, college, paid leave, health care, a home, and retirement. 中产阶级经济模式意味着要帮助员工在持续变化的经济环境中找到安全感，在儿童保育、上大学、带薪休假、医疗保险、买房子、养老等问题上负担小一点。

Middle-class economics means doing more to help Americans upgrade their skills through opportunities like apprenticeships and two years of free community college, so we can keep earning higher wages down the road. 中产阶级经济模式意味着要更多帮助美国人民提升工作技能，通过提供实习机会和2年免费的社区大学教育，让我们持续保持挣得更高工资的能力。

Middle-class economics means building the most competitive economy in the world, by building the best infrastructure, opening new markets so we can sell our products around the world, and investing in research – so that businesses keep creating good jobs right here. 中产阶级经济模式意味着打造最具竞争力的经济发展环境，通过建设最好的基础设施，开发新的市场，让我们可以将产品销售到世界各地，在科研上进行投资，让企业继续在国内提供良好的工作岗位。

And we can afford to do these things by closing loopholes in our tax code that stack the decks for special interests and the superrich, and against responsible companies and the middle class. 通过堵住税法中的漏洞，不再给特殊利益集团和超富阶层不必要的补贴，奖励有责任心的企业和中产阶层，这样我们就能省下钱来做好以上的事情。

This is where we have to go if we’re going to succeed in the new economy. I know that there are Republicans in Congress who disagree with my approach, and I look forward to hearing their ideas for how we can pay for what the middle class needs to grow. But what we can’t do is simply pretend that things like child care or college aren’t important, or pretend there’s nothing we can do to help middle class families get ahead. 如果我们想在新经济环境中成功，我们就必须沿着这条道路前进。我知道一些国会的共和党人并不同意我的做法，我也期待着倾听他们的意见，如何拿出帮助中产阶级成长壮大的资金。但我们不能简单认为像儿童保育和大学教育这类的问题不重要，或者假装认为这些方面我们做不了什么，帮助不了中产家庭。

Because we’ve got work to do. As a country, we have made it through some hard times. But we’ve laid a new foundation. We’ve got a new future to write. And I’m eager to get to work. 因为我们有很多工作要做。作为一个国家，我们共同度过了艰难时期。也为未来奠定了新的发展基础。美好的未来等着我们去书写，我期待着为之而努力。

Thanks, and have a great weekend. 谢谢，祝周末愉快！